De Tensio Vitae - From Tension, Life

The intersection of faith, humanity and landscape provides the opportunity to express in built form that which a community and individuals hold most dear to them. We postulate an approach that seeks to communicate respect for the local community, the poetic landscape, and the Catholic faith by holding a number of strong ideas in tension, and resolving these tensions in a series of design interventions. Our layout intervenes by overlaying a grid in the landscape, representing the rationality of ideas. This is an attempt to make sense of the immediate landscape and surroundings. Within this grid strong and wholly
separate forms are intersected – and resolved. Where these geometries meet we are faced with either a conflict or a resolution: the potential for both exists. Humanity has had to grapple with this since time immemorial: cultures clash and wars ensue or ideas and values are shared, paving the way for peace to reign. The Christian faith has a unique story to tell in this regard. At the cross, where conflict appeared to triumph, redemptive healing sprouted forth in an act of sacrificial love. In this scheme it is where these geometries clash that we find the altar representing the sacrificial death of Christ.

To leave the story there would be revealing only half the truth. It is not enough to merely come to a moment in time where resolution is found. Rationality and understanding of an idea is not enough. True resolution is found on the continuum of space and time. In other words, it is in the day to day of life and settings that true redemption takes place and becomes visible. From the intersecting geometries a new and poetic form is birthed: a sculptural celebration of new life, a spiritual awakening. This form is also clearly expressed in the externalities, and is not restricted to the internal volumes of the church. Here, underneath this intersection, people from the local community can gather to form friendships and build relationship, to commune and partake in fellowship. The scheme is
laid out in such a manner that the church service can be expanded to the exterior to include large gatherings of congregants, an ode to the Good Samaritan, a reaching out to a neighbor. This is a central tenet of the Christian faith, and binds the rational with the spiritual in a life-giving tension.